As used herein, the term "graphic surface" means a surface whose light absorptivity varies as a function of position on the surface so as to create the appearance of an image on the surface. Examples include paintings, photographs, posters, prints and the like which are conventionally displayed by mounting them beneath a protective glass or plastic cover. Such covers reflect incident light into the observer's eyes, so the observer must subconsciously ignore reflected images which appear in the plane of the cover. Human observers naturally "train" themselves from an early age to subconsciously ignore reflected images of this sort. However, the reflected images are always present and, in the case of particularly bright reflections, may inhibit the observer's ability to see the graphic surface clearly.
Various anti-glare or anti-reflective graphic surface covers such as low glare glass are known in the prior art. However, these do not eliminate reflected glare; they merely scatter reflected light in a multiplicity of directions, so that the observer does not perceive a sharp reflected image, but perceives only a substantially blurred reflection, which is easier to subconsciously ignore. Unfortunately, even though the substantially blurred reflection is easier to ignore, it still very greatly reduces the level of contrast in the perceived image.
The prior art has also evolved a variety of anti-reflective coatings such as those which are commonly applied to camera lenses. However, such coatings are expensive and fragile. They are thus not well suited to use in general purpose graphic surface display situations.
The present invention provides an anti-reflective graphic surface display device which substantially eliminates reflective glare, without blurring or otherwise significantly distorting the quality of the displayed image, and which is relatively inexpensive and durable, thus rendering the invention well suited to use in a wide variety of graphic surface display situations.